Since 2003, the DeafNation Expo has attracted over 1 million attendees throughout the United States. This year, the expo, held in Kissimmee, Florida, on Saturday, March 23, 2024, included a booth sponsored by congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Jacksonville and Orlando, Florida.
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
The Church has 21 American Sign Language (ASL) congregations throughout the United States — Florida has two.
“The Church is growing in Florida. We will have five temples,” said David Snow, a member of the St. Augustine Florida Second Branch ASL. “I think this booth is a great opportunity to show the community that the deaf have access to the gospel through sign language.”
ASL missionaries and members of the ASL congregations greeted the community and shared the many Church resources available in ASL, including religion classes, seminary, institute, ASL For the Strength of Youth, and invitations to learn more.
“It is vital to be able to see, hear, and read the messages of the gospel in our own language,” said Elder Peter M. Johnson, General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who serves on the Church’s Board of Accessibility. “As we make our meetings, materials, and programs more accessible to all, the spirit can testify to our hearts that Jesus Christ lives and loves each of us.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has online resources available in 144 languages, including ASL.
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ASL missionaries and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say "I love you" at the DeafNation Expo in Kissimmee, Florida, on March 23, 2024.2024 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Portions of the upcoming general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be interpreted into 103 languages, including ASL and other sign languages. Only the United Nations provides a larger real-time language interpretation service. Nearly 900 people work together to interpret and translate the general conference. About 350 people are at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the rest are located throughout the world. Most are contractors.
“We take seriously the decree from the Lord,” Elder Johnson said. “For it shall come to pass in that day, that every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language, through those who are ordained unto this power, by the administration of the Comforter, shed forth upon them for the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Doctrine and Covenants 90:11)